


The Home Front - Bonus Chapter

by Veresiine



Series: The Home Front & Sequels [2]
Category: MapleStory
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 11:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17466755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veresiine/pseuds/Veresiine
Summary: Mercedes and Luminous go out for some treats in Elluel. Set after The Home Front. Separate work because of different rating, tone, and genre. Can be read independently (summary of important parts of main fic provided in beginning notes).





	The Home Front - Bonus Chapter

**Author's Note:**

> Summary of The Home Front for those who don't want to read through 25k words but still want to know what's going on here (warning: spoilers ahead):
> 
> Luminous went back to Lania's house to find it under assault by monsters. He drove them back. Sylvidia showed up and asked him to go to Elluel to help Mercedes. He did. Luminous and Mercedes drove back the monsters attacking Elluel, but Luminous was seriously injured. Mercedes saved him.
> 
> Sylvidia brought Lania, Penny, and Vieren over to Elluel. Evan showed up, making good on his HoM promise to help Mercedes after it was all over (if the player chose the dialogue option; I assumed they did). Lania, Luminous, Vieren, and Evan worked together to try to set up a light barrier around Elluel. They failed.
> 
> More monsters started assaulting Elluel. Mercedes went out to fight. She had a bad time. Luminous helped get her out of a tough situation. The monsters were successfully repelled. The next day, Lania, Luminous, Vieren, Evan, and Philius tried to make the barrier work again. It did.
> 
> Confident that their loved ones are as safe as they can be, Luminous and Mercedes are awaiting the Alliance's signal to start the final battle against the Black Mage, and just kind of chilling until then.

"That ritual took so much out of you the first time; are you sure you're okay?" Mercedes asked, as she and Luminous made their way to the door to the hallway. Luminous got there first and held the door open for her; she passed him with a grateful nod.

  
"I'm fine, honestly, but thank you for asking," Luminous replied, following her out the door.

  
"Having Philius help out this time made quite a difference, didn't it?"

  
"We would not have succeeded without his aid." Evan's help had been invaluable as well, of course. Luminous supposed he should thank him for his contribution at some point. And he couldn't forget Lania -- this entire thing was her idea, after all.

  
"Well, I'm glad it worked this time. And I know you say you're fine, but you still look tired. So what do you say we go somewhere close?"

  
"That sounds like a good idea." Now that she mentioned it, he _was_ tired. And sore. His injuries hurt much less than they had been, but he still wasn't feeling quite up to going for a long walk around Elluel just for some food.

  
"Honestly, I'm a bit worn-out after yesterday, too," Mercedes admitted.

  
"About that. Are you all right --" Luminous gestured to the side of his head, unsure how exactly to phrase what he was trying to say.

  
"It's fully healed now. I'm fine." Mercedes paused for a second to give him a quizzical look. "... It really was just a scratch." He wanted to say that he was much less worried about superficial injuries than he was about her mental state, but he didn't know who was listening or if addressing what had happened in a more public space would upset her.

  
Luminous supposed he would leave the issue where it was, then. If Mercedes wasn't too upset about the losses in the most recent battle, he didn't want to draw her attention to them. They started walking again, side by side.

  
"I'm glad to hear it. So, did you have any particular place in mind?" Luminous asked.

  
"That depends on what you want to eat." He thought for a moment. Medically, he was almost certain he didn't have to worry about restricting his diet anymore, but he wasn't in the mood for anything too outlandish or unfamiliar. On that note, what even _was_ in that lemonade mana drink that Philius seemed so fond of? It was probably best not to ask.

  
"I don't have much of a preference. What would you like?"

  
"... You know, something sweet sounds good right about now," Mercedes said, after a while. "There's an ice cream place not too far from here. How does that sound?"

  
"That sounds good to me," Luminous replied, as they reached the double doors leading out to the street. They looked at each other, hesitated a moment, and spent a few seconds trying to negotiate by shifting their posture and footing who would hold the door for whom. They gave up at about the same time, and each pushed open the door on their own side for themselves.

  
Once outside, Luminous followed Mercedes down the street for a short ways. There seemed to be about as many people out and about as usual; the residents of Elluel probably hadn't even noticed the barrier.

  
They made it about two blocks before Luminous sensed something behind him and turned. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mercedes do the same. Luminous relaxed slightly when he recognized Vieren, but Mercedes didn't.

  
"So, is this a date, or can I come along?" Vieren asked.

  
"Vieren, what are you doing here? I thought you were with the others!" Vieren seemed calm and in no hurry, but Luminous couldn't help but worry. What if something had happened to Lania and Evan?

  
"Philius sent me out for scaring the kitchen staff." Vieren shrugged.

  
"And he was well within his rights to do so!" Mercedes snapped. "We told you not to pop up randomly and scare people! You have five seconds to make yourself scarce." Mercedes drew her bowguns and pointed them at Vieren, who held his hands up in the air. Luminous noticed that people were stopping to stare, though he wasn't quite sure who was causing more of a scene.

  
"Haha, fine. All right, all right." Vieren grinned, then added quietly, "so it is a date, then. I should let Lania know. She'll probably be ecstatic." He disappeared in a shower of light before either Luminous or Mercedes could protest.

  
"Was he always like that?" Mercedes asked, lowering her bowguns. Luminous, at a loss, gave an exaggerated shrug.

  
"I wonder if, perhaps, centuries of solitude... changed him," Luminous said, after some deliberation. Meanwhile, the people who had stopped to stare seemed to be returning to their regular business with only a few more glances over their shoulders than normal.

  
"Boredom will do that." Mercedes sighed. "So, is this a date?"

  
"Uh. It... doesn't really matter?" _Why_ did he say that? That was the exact opposite direction of where he wanted the conversation to go! "Do you want it to be?" He knew his face was red, but he wanted to at least maintain the illusion of composure.

  
"Um." At least Mercedes seemed to be at just as much of a loss, and there was pink creeping into her complexion, too. "Well, we've... had a very rough week. We deserve some joy in our lives."

  
"That we do." He didn't want to press the issue. Apparently, she didn't either. And that was fine. What they had was enough. It didn't matter what they called it.

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! And thank you, Kilt, for answering my extremely important questions about ice cream flavors.
> 
> Just to be clear, this is *not* the sequel I mentioned in the last chapter of the main fic. This is just a little bit of fluff to lighten the mood before I swing the angst hammer around again.
> 
> The sequel *is* coming! In fact, there will be several sequels. The first chapter of the first one should be up in 7-10 days. Probably. Depending on how much work saps my energy.
> 
> Also, this was originally going to be a bit longer, but I cut it short for a stronger ending. Those interested can read the full fic on my tumblr: https://veresiine.tumblr.com/post/182143499180/the-home-front-bonus-chapter-veresiine


End file.
